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Hawaii's jobless rate holds at 4.6% in Feb.

The Hawaii State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations announced Thursday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 4.6 percent, unchanged from January.

Statewide, there were 626,400 employed and 30,150 unemployed in February, which combines for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 656,550.

Both initial claims and weeks claims decreased by 44 or -2.4 percent and 384 or -3.3 percent respectively for unemployment benefits compared to one year ago. Over the month, both initial claims and weeks claims also dropped by -16.9 percent and -2.2 percent respectively from January 2014.

The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawaii and the U.S. in this release are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. The not seasonally adjusted rate for the State was also 4.6 percent in February, unchanged from January.

In a separate measure of employment, total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs decreased by 2,300 in February over January.

The bulk of the job contraction in Professional & Business Services was attributed to less hiring at Professional Employer Organizations and Temporary Help Services.

Following an all-time high level of employment in January, Leisure & Hospitality went down as the visitor industry tempered down a bit. Government increased by 1,300 jobs, primarily due to hiring at the University of Hawaii system. In comparison with February 2013, there has been an increase of 4,400 nonfarm jobs.

States with the lowest jobless rates

States with the lowest jobless rates

Hiring surged in November as employers added 321,000 jobs, crowning 2014 as the strongest year for job growth since 1999. The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8 percent, down from 7 percent this time last year.

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